Forbidden
by Magsforever
Summary: What happens when a god and a demigod fall in love? Will it bring war or peace? Chaos or order? It all depends on choices. But what if these choices decide the fate of Western Civilization? Please R
1. The Powerful Five

Since the very beginning the gods have always been careful when it came to their children and their destinies. They have laws to prevent interfearance with fate. The laws may be broken from time to time, but for the most part they are strictly observed. One such law has only been broken four times in the millenia since it was introduced.

_Gods shall not have mortal children with demigods. _

This simple law has caused more chaos, war, and catastrophe then any other in any of the Ages.

Each of the four times was more disasterous than the next. The first god to break his vow, was Zeus. He had a son with a daughter of Poseidon. The boy was one of the most powerful mortals to have ever been born, having both power over the ocean, like his mother, and control over the sky like his father. By the age of five, the boy was able to create full scale storms in his bath. He turned against Olympus when he was in his late teens, believing them to be unfair and corrupt. In the end he managed to cause a tsunami that killed thousands of people. As punishment the gods threw him, still living into the depths of Taurtarus. No one knows his exact fate, but it is said he lost his sanity before reaching the bottom.

The second god to slip was Hephaestus. The girl was a daughter of Aphrodite, one who, unlike her siblings, wasn't afraid to get dirty. His mistake resulted in a daughter with power over both fire and emotion. The gods didn't take immediate action because the two powers didn't appear to be too hazardous when combined. The girl was almost as powerful as her predicessor, even possessing the ability to conjure fire at her will. The problem started when she managed to combine her emotional manipulation and fire abilities to create a wall of fire so intense, that it burned anything within a five mile radius. The wall reacted to emotional stimuli, meaning that if someone was angry or scared it would flare, spreading the flames over nearly all of London. Her punishment is one that to this day the gods refuse to discuss.

The third infraction was made by Ares. The daughter of Athena he fell for gave birth to twins. The gods figured these children to be a blessing of sorts, since their natural intelligance combined with their inherited warfare brilliance, could result in them becoming the most powerful military leaders in history. Unfortunatly, the fates were against this. The boys didn't live to see their glory days. They killed each other over a daughter of Hades, murdering her in the process. Now the two reside in the fields of punishment, tortured by the Furies themselves, as punishment for their murders.

The fourth violation was committed by Poseidon, who fell for a daughter of Hephaestus. The resulting child was one constantly at war with himself. He was a child of fire and water. Poseidon managed to keep him secret until one day his warring natures got the best of him and lost his sanity. The boy ran through the streets steaming and setting anything he touched a light. The gods took pity on the boy and turned him into a statue. One that to this day can be seen in his father's realm.

After the fourth violation extra precautions were put into place to prevent further chaos. The gods became even more distant from their children. Oaths on the River Styx were made. This all worked until the day The Oracle made her most dire prophecy yet. One that could mean the end of all that is considered Western Civilization.

**A/N so this is an idea I came up with. It will follow the mother of the fifth 3/4 blood. The story will be in her POV. There will be character death. Please tell me what you think of the idea :D**

**XOXOX**

**Vicki**


	2. Oracle

My name is Laura Collins. When this all started I was seventeen years old. I was relativly normal, or at least as close to normal as an ADHD, dyslexic, demigod can be. I was second-in-command of my cabin, and had great friends and siblings. In short life was great. I mean sure, my mom was dead and my father was a greek god, so I rarely saw him, but at least I had my year round family in camp.

Before, I continue with my story you should know a little about my mother. My mother's name was Sarah. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think of her. She was a professional tennis player. That's how she met my father, being the god of athletes he was in attendance at her Olympic qualifier. Unfortunatly, she never did make it to the Olympics, but she always said that she got something even better out of that experience.

She had an amazing sense of humor. I remember when I was about seven I asked her where my dad was. She answered by telling me all about how he was doing time for stealing special cows from a ranch. At the time I hadn't realized how true that really was. Mom was a happy and energetic woman. She brought joy to even the saddest of occasions. There is not a doubt in my mind that she's in Elysium. I hope to join her there someday, hopefully not anytime soon, but someday.

She died trying to get me to Half Blood Hill. I was nine then. A Cyclops, that had been following us caught up about a mile down the road from the hill. The monster would have killed me before I could even scream if she had not thrown herself at it. Screaming for me to run she wrestled with it until it finally crushed her. The image of her crumpled body still haunts my dreams from time to time.

That first night I was claimed as a child of Hermes. His symbol of power, the caduceus, appeared burning bright in the air above my head. I remember ducking and covering my head with my arms, earning a few laughs. Apparently, most people stand tall and proud when they are claimed. I was more worried about the flying, brightly lit, snakes hovering about a foot a over my hair. I had already been to Cabin Eleven by that point and gotten assigned to a corner on the floor but when we got back, Travis and Conner gave me a bed and soon I was raiding the camp store with the rest of them. But that, as they say, is ancient history.

I was eleven during the Battle of Manhatten. I was lucky, surviving with minimal injuries. I only got a concussion and a few cuts and bruises. Most of my siblings weren't so fortunate. I met Luke once almost a year earlier. I had almost joined him. He promised me a better future, no more kids being abandoned at birth by their godly parent. The only thing that stopped me was the fact that I had found a new family in Cabin Eleven. If it wasn't for the love they had showed me I probably would have died battling for the Titan Lord.

As far as family goes, we're an odd bunch. When I was seventeen there were almost thirty of us living in Cabin Eleven. The oldest being the Stoll brothers, who were twenty one and nineteen respectivly, and the youngest being five year old Suzie.

After the end of the Titan Warthe gods started visiting more often. Most stopping bY at least once a month, if not more often. On the first day of summer session it became tradition for the gods to come and visit and join in on the first sing along of summer. It was always an amazong night, filled with laughter, music, and family bonding. Dad showed up early that year, which was not unusual for him, since he lost so many of us in the various battles.

Father picked up Suzie and spun her around before sitting down next to Eli. It was almost like a scene unfolding from a book in front of me, a father reuniting with his children.

"So what's new, guys?" he asked. Soon everyone else was launching into stories from the past few months, recapping everything they could think of. Except me, I waited until everyone else was deep in conversation before sneaking out. I would never tell anyone this but I don't like talking to my father in person. For the first nine year of my life I was convinced that he was dead, or in prision. I had accepted that. So when I found out my father was in fact alive I had not exactly jumped at opportunities to meet him. I was one of the few who would rather not meet him. It was easier that way.

I kept my head low as I hurried away from cabin eleven, hoping no one would find it odd to see a short girl practically running across the common area. Suddenly, I knocked into something, or rather someone, causing me to fall onto my back.

"Hey, watch-" I trailed off as I looked up to see who it was I had walked into. The boy above me looked to be about eighteen, he was perfectly tan, with curly blonde hair and blue eyes. To put it simply he was hot. He extended his hand toward me and helped me to my feet. Something about him seemed familiar, but I couldn't put my finger on it.

"Sorry, I didn't see you there." I said once I was standing again. The boy laughed.

"Well, you were moving so fast I can't really be suprised. What were you running from?" I laughed.

"Oh you know the usual, annoying siblings, dad's in town early so they all decided to start showing off. I'm getting out of there before any of them get the idea to prank me." Now it was the boys turn to laugh.

"So what are you doing?" I asked.

He shrugged. "Oh, a little of this, a little of that, charming a cute girl." I looked behind me, pretending to search for another girl.

"You're trying to charm me?" I snorted. "Good luck with that, I am immune to it."

"You only say that because you've never been charmed by me," he said.

"Or because I have fifteen brothers who are all trained to kill, and if they see me being 'charmed' will most likely disembowel the poor guy," I said tapping my chin. The boy laughed.

"I doubt they could catch me," he said? "What's your name?"

"Laura, what about you?" The boy got a mischievous glint in his eye.

"Call me Fred."

"That's not your real name is it?" Fred shook his head.

"Nope, and don't try to ask my real one because I'm not telling." I smirked at him.

"I'll figure it out," I assured him. "After all your in camp, so that narrows it down considerably." Before he could respond, my father came out of the cabin.

"γαμώτο στην κόλαση." I cursed under my breath. Fred having seen my father started backing away.

"I'll see you around, Laura." he called as he jogged away. I sighed.

"See you later... Fred." I said. Just then Hermes reached me.

"It's dinner time, the rest of your siblings are going ahead." I nodded and together we started walking toward the dining pavilion.

"So who was that you were just talking to?" My father asked trying to break the awkward silence that had fallen between us.

"A friend," I said simply.

"So, anything new in your life, you ducked out before I could ask?" I smile. I may not know my dad well, but he is a pretty good guy -god- I mean.

"Oh you know, I just turned seventeen, Travis and Conner have but me on Suzie and Kyle duty," I laughed. Trying to give the two youngest a bath and to bed is no easy task.

"Sounds like...fun?" My dad laughed a little.

"Oh, it's awful, but they won't let anyone else near them half the time." Dad shook his head.

"The two of them will be terrors when they're older," I smiled.

"They'll be fine, after all they have the rest of us to keep them in line."

"That's what scares me, kiddo," Dad said. Just then we resched the dining pavillion. I quickly went and elbowed my way between Eli and Conner. Dad took his spot at the head of the table. Scanning the room, I remember seeing, Percy and Poseidon laughing over their food, Athena and her children deep in animated debate, Aphrodite was teaching some of her younger daughters how to braid, and 'Fred' sitting with the Apollo kids.

When he looked up we locked eyes from a across the room for a second, before he winked and resumed his conversation with the little girl next to him. Conner elbowed me hard in the ribs.

"Who are you making eyes at over there?" he asked. I nudged him in the side.

"I'm not making eyes at anyone, I'm simply acknowledging the existance of a friend."

"Woah, acknowledge, big word, keep it up with those and soon people will think your an Athena kid and you are so making eyes at someone, is it Rory?" I laughed at that. Rory is a short child of Apollo who has had a crush on me for a while now.

"At least I'm not mentally undressing Katie," I said. Conner turned bright red and ducked his head. Not many people can embarrass Conner or Travis but I take pride in the fact I can not only embarrass both of them, but that I can also embarrass them into silence, which is even more challenging. Before either one of us could say anything Chiron clomped his hooves from the head table.

"Welcome everyone!" He said once all the chattering had calmed down. "I welcome each and every one of you to the first day of summer session. Just a reminder, Friday night is Capture the Fl-"

"Look at Rachel!" someone screamed. I looked past Chiron to see our oracle, Rachel Dare, was spewing green smoke. Odd, usually she only gives prophecies when a hero specifically asks.

"A prophecy," Travis muttered, in a daze. Rachels mouth opened wide. The smoke around her took the shaape of a baby.

_A child of art and travel_

_Will set forth in a great battle_

_Death bring forth mother's fury_

_Neglect befalls the greatest duty_

_A new age born again_

_Be it one of pride or chagrin_

**A/N so what did you think so far? Who do you think 'Fred' is? Did you like my prophacy. Let me just say they are harder than they look so hopefully it was good.**

**Please, please R&R I love to near what you all think ( the Greek in this chapter means damn it to hell in case you were wondering)**

**XOXOXOX**

**Vicki**


	3. Shocked

The predication was met by a complete shocked silence. It was like everyone had forgotten how to breathe. It was like a judge just uttered a death sentence. Everyone was staring where the mist baby had been. As if trying to tell themselves it had been a dream. Then almost as if a signal went out everyone started talking at once.

"A child of art and travel?"

"Zeus is gonna be pissed."

"Ten bucks says it has something to do with Percy again."

I ignored the frantic whispers around me. I was too busy thinking about the third line in the prophecy the one about death and a mothers fury. That line troubled me the most. Suzie grabbed my hand under the table and I was pulled from my thoughts. I tried to squeeze her hand reassuringly. It probably felt more like a nervous spasm though. Then I turned to Mike, my seventeen year old half brother.

"I wonder what this means," I whispered to him. Mike rolled his eyes.

"The gods are going to retreat to Olympus, Zeus will make them all swear on the Rover Styx, one of them will break the oath, then gods help the poor hero and its mom."

"Well," I said, "someone's bitter." Mike barked a harsh laugh.

"It's the same thing every time, sis. It gets old," he said before he turned away to pass Travis his money. Chiron stomped to get everyone's attention and after a few tries the pavilion reached a relative silence.

"Heros," he yelled, "do not be alarmed, you are trained for thing. Like this. Now everyone calm down and head down to the campfire as soon as you are finished eating."

"I can't believe it," my best friend Lynn said as we walked over to the campfire together.

"Can't believe what?" I asked.

"That Chiron is being so nonchalant about the new prophecy," she said.

"Prophecies are known to take years, even eons, to complete, I'm sure it won't happen until we're old and wrinkly." Lynn scrunched up her nose.

"I will never wrinkle, I'll ask my dad to make sure I don't."

"Your father is the god of medicine, I don't think plastic surgeon is part of his job description." Lynn is a daughter of Apollo, but you wouldn't know by looking at her. She has black hair, brown eyes, and pale skin. When she first arrived at camp everyone thought her father was Hades since she has a startling resemblance to Nico. It wasn't until we all saw her nail a target from a hundred feet with a bow until we were fully convinced of her parentage.

"Yeah, well, I'm gonna ask him," she said with a nod. Then she waved to me and ran ahead so she could join her siblings setting up the amphitheater, leaving me to walk alone.

I didn't mind the solitude though. In fact it was so rare in my life that I craved it. I valued every second alone with my thoughts. My moment was o er however when a pair of warm hands wrapped around my eyes from behind.

"Guess who?" a boys voice said.

"Travis?" I guessed. I knew it was wrong but I wanted to see If I could annoy my new "friend" into telling me his real name.

"No," the voice said sounding slightly hurt. "I know you know who I am!"

"Well, seeing as you refuse to tell me your name, this isn't a particularly fair game," I tried to reason. The hands dropped from my eyes and 'Fred' stepped out from behind me, laughing.

"You aren't as stupid as some of your siblings are, I'll give you that," he laughed. I crossed my arms and huffed.

"Only I can make fun of my siblings," I said,

"So you do admit they are stupid," I cursed under my breath.

"I never said that."

"But it was implied."

"Are you ever going to tell me who you are?" I asked quickly changing the subject. He laughed.

"Why would I tell you, when you are obviously hung up on the hot mystery man you are currently talking to?" I sighed heavily.

"Come on, if you tell me I'll tell you something about me." Fred laughed.

"How about I give you a hint after the fire and you can give me your guess tomorrow?"

"How about I ask one of the other campers, I saw you at the Apollo table, so your obviously with them, a new camper m guess."

"But then you would miss out on this game," he said with a pout.

"Fine, I'll play along, but you have to swear on the Styx that if I guess right you'll tell me."

"Fine, I swear on the River Styx to tell the truth," he said.

"So what's my hint?" I urged, I would never admit this to him but I was in fact, extremely interested in mystery boy.

"You'll have to wait until after the campfire, I'll give you the hint then." I rolled my eyes. We had almost reached the amphitheater when dad fell into stride next to me.

"Kyle is asking for you," he said. "Travis also asked me to tell you that Suzie won't stop crying and they need you to calm her down before she hurts someone." i nodded.

"See you after the fire... Fred" I called over my shoulder. My dad gave him a questioning look and Fred laughed.

"Later, sweetheart," he called. Dad turned completely red as I turned away and jogged toward my siblings. I picked up Suzie and plopped her down on my lap and pulled Kyle in close to my side. Lizzy laughed.

"I don't know how you do it," she said.

"Do what?"

"You are the only person able to calm the two of them down, it's a gift." Now it was my turn to laugh.

"It's because I'm a freaking saint," Travis snorted as he sat down next to me.

"This is coming from the girl who tried to decapitate Drake not three hours ago," he elbowed me.

"I had a perfectly logical reason for that," I replied.

"Which was?"

"He was..." I trailed off. I actually did not have a real reason for trying to kill Drake, except that he had been annoying me. Travis seemed to realize that I did not have a reason and started laughing.

"Just admit that you have anger management issues that rival the Ares Cabin and I'll let it drop," Travis taunted. Before I could answer the Apollo kids started singing a song about being our own cousin. In this family that wasn't far off. We mut have sang for hours before Chiron insisted we all say good bye to our parents and head off to bed.

Dad helped carry the sleeping Kyle while I took Suzie. I did not tell anyone at the time, but I was trying to stall to get my clue from 'Fred.' I shuffled my feet purposefully so he had time to catch up. After about five minutes I gave up waiting for him and picked up a more normal speed, falling into Step beside dad. We were still well behind the group when he decided to break the silence.

"Laura, I don't want you hanging out with that boy anymore," my father said suddenly. I raised my eyebrow at him.

"Why not?"

"Because, he isn't good for you," he said while shifting Kyle. I stopped walking and turned to look at him.

"Dad, it's no big deal, I've only just met him," I said, confused. Why would my dad care about who I chose to hang out with?

"Fine, but if I hear anything about you and this boy, there will be problems, understood?" I nodded at my dad but already I knew I wasn't going to listen to him. Something about my mystery boy was strangely familiar, like I had seen it a thousand times before. Looking back I wish I had taken father's warning more seriously, it would have spared everyone a whole ton of trouble.

Dad dropped Kyle into Conner's arms and quickly said his good-byes before walking toward the Big House. Without a doubt the Olympians were going to go into an emergency meeting about the new prophecy.

"Yo, Laura," Travis called from inside the cabin after dad left. "What's this thing on your bed?" I was shaking my head as I returned inside the cabin.

"I didn't leave anything on my bed," I grumbled. "I'm not so stupid as to leave something personal out with you asshats around." Travis cursed.

"Well, whatever it ks it burns to touch it."

"There's noth-" I stopped when I looked up and saw it. On my bed lay a golden arrow. It was shedding a soft golden light, like the early morning sun. There was a note lying next to it, which I picked up.

_Your dad is pissed off_

_This arrow is your first hint_

_Two days starting now._

I put down the note and carefully poked the arrow. It didn't burn me when I touched it, although it was slighty warmer than was natural. The head was shaped like a heart and the whole thing looked to be made of gold. It was beyond beautiful. I hurriedly wrapped it in an extra shirt and put it on my shelf so none of my siblings would think of taking it.

**A/N So what did you think? Do you guys want to see the events so far in Apollo's POV or should the whole story be in Laura's? Let me know please and please please leave a review and let me know whatyou think even if you hate it :p (please don't leave flames though)**

**XOXOX**

**Vicki**


	4. Drowning

The next two days passed in a blur of activity. Sword play in the morning, ancient greek to follow, foot racing in the afternoon. Not to mention the various pranks, fights, and the occasional flying death instrument.

To be perfectly honest, 'Fred' had almost completely slipped my mind. The only time I thought about him was at night usually as I was beginning to drift off to sleep. I ran all the possiblities through my mind as to who he really was. I even went so far as to ask Lynn about him.

"If I had a brother as hot as you're describing I think I would know about it," she said. "Because then he would be setting me up with all his hot friends."

On the second day I decided to go down to the beach to clear my head. I had only gone down to the beach to go for a run and maybe jump in the cool water for a minute, but my plans were interrupted by a now familiar cocky grin. As I approached he stood up and waved.

"Hey, sweetheart," he greeted.

"Hi." He fell into step next to me as I continued to walk along the surf. My foot slipped on the loosely packed sand. I started to fall before he grabbed my arm and righted me on my feet. I smiled at him gratefully

"So did you get my hint?" he asked. I nodded.

"I've given it some thought, the poem, arrow, and glow of it suggest something to do with Apollo but you weren't with the cabin all week, and none of them know anyone who goes by Fred anyway. Are you a god?" The cocky grin was back now.

"You only guess that because I am too handsome for a mortal, but you are right, I am in fact a god."

"No, I knew I was right because no mortal, demigod or not, has as big a head as you." For a minute he looked mad, amd I remembered that even though he looked like a normal guy to me, he was in fact insanely powerful. I also remembered that gods have a habit of incinerating anyone who gets on their bad side. Or they turned them into small, easily killed, woodland animals. I did not think I would look good as a weasel. Luckily, the moment passed and he laughed again.

"My sister says that often actually," then he cursed. An idea hit me.

"You just said sister, right?"

"Possibly," he grumbled obviously annoyed he had let an extra hint slip.

"You're Apollo, aren't you?" It should have been obvious to me from the beginning who he really was. Even an Ares kid would have figured it out faster given all the clues I had been given.

"Took you long enough," he grumbled. " I mean is it really that hard to believe that I am an all powerful being."

"Actually, it kinda is when your in this form, you kinda look like my brother did," I shrug. I do not like talking about Luke, it is a sore topic to all of us, especially people who fought him. Apollo laughed.

"You're not the first person to say that," he said.

"So, ummm..." I hesitated unsure if I should refer to him as 'Lord' or something like that. Apollo sensed my hesitation and smiled.

"Hey, just call me Apollo, sweatheart."

"Alright, Apollo. Why are trying to get to know me?"

"Life's been boring lately, so I decided to make some mortal friends," I raised my eyebrow at him.

"There was just a huge prophecy not two days ago, and from the sounds of it, it refers to a child of yours, and, not to be rude, but whenever gods make mortal friends there's a new demigod running around nine months later..." I trailed of certain I had offended him, but he just laughed.

"Well, one I am the god of prophecy and I already know what will happpen, at least to an extent," I opened my mouth to interupt but he continued? "No, I won't tell you. And second it's illegal for anything to happen between us, so no worries you won't become a teen mom, at least I wouldn't be my fault, I just want to see what mortals are really like."

"Alright, so why me?"

"Well, I can't like you more than a friend so that helps the whole 'hanging out with mortal girls without sex' thing easier. You seem pretty cool, not as cool as me of course, but still. Plus, your dad told me to stay away so it was kind of an invitation to hang out."

"Yeah, he told me not to talk to you, now I know why," I laughed. "Do you think he realized that his warning would only make me more interested?"

"Your father isn't an idiot, but he probably thought you would listen to him, at least a little." Apollo laughed.

"You do know, I'm not exactly a normal mortal, right? I mean I've only been in the mortal world a handfull of times since I got here."

"That might be true, but you are probably more in tune with it than another god would be." He smirked. "Now, tell me, what do people like you do when you have nothing else to do?"

"Well, we kill cats," Apollo looked surprised.

"Why would you do that?"

"I think the real question is: why don't you?" Then I started laughing.

"I'm kidding," I said to his shocked face. "But seriously when I'm free I like to go swimming. Running is fun. I like to read. Oh, and practical jokes are a must."

"You like swimming, huh?" He got the same sort of look in his eye that my brothers do right before they try something incredibly stupid. Like use the Ares cabin for target practice, or the golden mango prank. I started to back away slowly.

"Don't you try anything!" I said already tensing to sprint. Apollo smiled.

"I would never," he said with mock hurt. Then he jumped forward and grabbed my waist. He tossed me into the water hard, but he did not realize that I had been thrown in more times than I could count and knew how to drag someone in behind me.

"You are so going to pay for that," Apollo said once we both reached the surface again. He shook the salty water from his hair. Then quick as a flash he tackled me pushing me further into the water. The water was a blue envelope around us as I thrashed and kicked at him, but further down we sunk. With a final push I hit the bottom and Apollo shot back to the surface.

I went to kick off the bottom and my ankle got tangled in seaweed. I started thrashing around in a panic, trying to untangle myself from the plant, but it only got tighter.

My lungs started to burn and black spots were dancing across my vision. My legs kicked uselessly, trying desperately to reach the surface. The burn for air in my lungs became unbearable and I gasped for breath, sucking in the cool water. I chocked and started thrashing harder as the water filled my lungs.

My vision became darker and darker until I could just barely make out a slightly darker form in the water above. Then the world went black.

**A/N Yes I know I'm evil stoping there but I wrote this quickly and it seemed like a good place to stop for noe, I should update again soon. Also, check out my poll on my profile. I have decided to write a companion to this story in Apollo's PIV and I need help with the title. I decided this because i don't like to switch POV's in a story but I want to explore Apollo's mind. **

**XOXOXO**

**Vicki**


	5. Near Death

People always say that when you are close to death, your life flashes before your eyes. I had never believed it. I had come close to death dozems of times during my various battles with monsters and the war. Never once had my life replayed for me. That is until the near drowning incident.

While Apollo was busy fishing me out of the water and getting help from my brothers, I was busy replaying memories of forgotten days. I saw some of my happiest memories unfold in front of me all over again.

My mom kissed my head and passed me a cookie still warm from the oven, Travis and Conner taught me how to break into the camp store without getting caught. Lynn and I flipped a boat and wound up sitting on top of it waiting for someone to come and give us a ride back to shore. I battled the Ares cabin with nothing but a jar of Nutella and a whoopee cushion. I saw the caduceus floating over my head again. Every single one of these memories replayed, in the amazing quality. I could feel the smoothness of the wooden boards on the boat. Taste the melting chocolate. Hear Katie's angry shouts as we ran from the store. Feel the burn in my muscles as we raced away from her.

As suddenly as the memories started they were over. I was surrounded by complete darkness. Then the voices started.

"She's breathing again," a deep voice said.

"I wonder what happened," another, this one sounding more feminine.

"Probably a dare gone wrong or something," the first voice said.

"I don't know, all I know is some guy dragged us down to the beach and said she has been under for a while and that she was still alive, by the time we got the water out of her lungs he had disappeared without a trace, we didn't even get his name." I strained to open my eyes. To find out who they were talking about. For some reason, I could not get my eyes to work. It was like I was nothing more than an observer in my own body. The affect was terrifying.

"Did her finger just twitch?" the second voice asked again. Someone shushed everyone else.

"Laura, can you hear me, it's Travis." hearing my name made it so I had the power to open my eyes. A bright light shone in my face and I was forced to squint. Something hard threw itself on me and squeezed my shoulders hard.

"I thought you were dead," Lynn exclaimed. "What happened?" I shook my head.

"I don't remember," I lied. In actuality I remembered everything. Something told me not to tell everyone what had happened. Like a voice in the back of my skull, whispering that it needed to be kept a secret.

I was in the infirmary. The beds around me were completely empty. The sun was shining bright outside. It had been setting last time I had seen it. Around my bed stood Lynn, Travis, Conner, and Will Solace.

"So your saying you don't remember anything?" Will prompted. I shook my head and he gave me a look that said he did not believe it. "I didn't heal any head wounds on you, your memories should be fine." I shrugged.

"I must have blacked out," Will eyed me critically before nodding.

"That seems like the most likely idea, I have to run and make sure my cabin makes it to lunch but I'll be back in a bit to check on you, come on Lynn, you laying on her won't help, you can come back in the morning." Lynn made a face at Will, who rolled his eyes. The two have always been close. Closer than most people are with their full siblings.

After they both left Travis and Conner sat down in either side of me amd shared a wicked smirk.

"So who were you with?" Conner asked.

"I don't remember." I tried to lie again. After all, dad warned me to stay away from Apollo, and I knew my brothers would tell him, if they thought it was for the best.

"Why are you lying to us?" Travis asked. "Did he try to hurt you? Is he the person who almost drowned you?"

I shook my head quickly.

"I am not lying to you. No one was with me on the beach."

"Then how do you explain the blond pretty boy calling for help?" Conner asked, raising his eyebrow suspiciously.

"He must've seen me struggling or something." Travis rolled his eyes.

"Listen, sis, we know he wasn't just a random passerby. Just tell us who it was."

Being children of the god of trickery makes us nautral liars but by the same card we can almost always tell when someone else is lying. I am usually good at tricking the two of them, but today they are too suspicious to be swayed it seems.

"I don't remember who it was," I said. Travis slapped his leg in exasperation. "I never saw his face, all I know is that my leg got tangled in something when I went for a swim. As I was about to black out I saw him swim toward me."

"So you really don't know who he is?" Conner asked still disbelieving me. I nodded.

"So, tell me what happened? How did you guys find me?" I asked quickly as to divert questions away from why I had been swimming in the first place. Travis put his hand on my shoulder.

"Well, dippy," he started, "while you were busy drowning we were on a frightful quest, one of pillaging and danger, of-"

"So you were raiding the Ares cabin, continue." I said with an eyeroll. Conner feigned hurt.

"We would never-" he started just as his brother said.

"It was the Demeter Cabin." I laughed.

"So, anyway, we were busy doing what we do best when this blond, roid raging, freak comes running up, screaming that there was a dying girl on the beach." Travis waved his free arm wildly to demonstrate his point.

"So, we followed golden boy down to the beach," Conner continued standing up and walking with his arms swinging loosely at his sides, almost like a beauty queen would. "And when we got there we saw what looked like a pile of black seaweed."

"As it turns out the pile of disgustingness turned out to be you," Travis finished for him. The three of us all started laughing. It was not funny, what had happened, but the laughter was more out of relief than anything else.

After about a half hour of just goofing off my brothers left, promising that the next morning they would come to take me back to the cabin, even if Chiron told them no.

Once they left I bundled up in my blankets and started to doze. I was just about to let sleep claim me when a blinding golden light filled the room. Once it dulled a single peice of paper fluttered onto my bed. On it was written a haiku.

_You are not a fish_

_You breathe air not water, doll_

_Sunrise waits for you_

**A/N So this was kinda a fun little chapter. Please tell me what you thought I love reading your feedback**

**XOXOX**


	6. Sunrise

Conner and Travis picked me up before sunrise the next morning, claiming they wanted to surprise everyone. When we arrived at the cabin, instead of suprising a sleeping bunch of kids we were attacked by a band of sugar crazed hyenas. Apparently someone had gotten pixie stix and coke into the cabin and had handed it out to the kids.

"Laura, Laura, Laura," Kyle screamed as I walked into the room. His face was stained hulk green and his teeth were bright red. He was practically vibrating when I picked him up. The little guy threw his arms around my neck.

"Guess what?" the little guy screamed in my ear.

"What?"

"Sarah gave me candy, but she told me not to tell you so you have to keep it a secret," he continued to yell. Across the room Sarah started to back away slowly. Conner and I both shot her murderous looks. I called her over with a finger. She slowly made her way toward us.

"What the hell were you thinking?" I hissed. "Do you remember the last time he had candy?" A couple of the others shivered at the memory. I will not go into detail for the sake of time, but let us just say that it involved glue, a hairbrush, some greek fire and the forest. Needless to say, it is not often that candy is allowed into the cabin. From time to time, all of us sneak some in, but we always make sure to keep it away from the little guys, since they do not know how to handle the sugar intake.

"Sorry," Sarah looked at the floor.

"Good," Travis snapped. Turning to me he muttered. "I'm getting to old for this." I laughed.

"You and me both." He smiled and patted my shoulder before going to make sure Suzie had not gotten her hands on anything. One sugar crazed kid we could handle, but two was nearly impossible. Especially, if those two kids had ADHD.

I decided to take Kyle for a run to try to burn off some of his sugar high. We both sprinted through the common area and headed over toward the forest. I had my sword just in case but I doubted I would need it.

One of the things I love most about being a a child of Hermes is that we are naturally athletic. We are all practically born running. We also have an amazing sense of direction because father is the god of travel. Unlike other cabins like Demeter and Apollo we do not generally flaunt our talents. This is mostly due to the fact they help us in our "almost legal" activities.

Real quick I should probably tell all you my "gifts," just to get them out there, since they play an important part in my future. Like most of my siblings I am incredibly fast, though because of how long I was in camp I am one of the faster ones. I have a natural direction sense, and I can never get lost. Both are beyond helpful during things like Capture the Flag. I am highly persuasive and good at trickery. The only people immune to these talents are my siblings and Hermes himself, for obvious reasons. I am also good with money, but that is one of my more rarely used talents. Since we don't have or use much money.

Now for the more supernatural stuff. I have a knack for alchemy. Once Conner and I even managed to make greek fire, though Chiron put us on laundry duty for that. All of my siblings and I share two talents though, no exceptions. We can pick locks just by touching them, and we can sense traps. These are the two things that are dead give aways when it comes to figuring out if you are a child of Hermes.

Now, you are probably wondering what all this has to do with going for a run with Kyle. Well, for one, I felt like it was a good time to share. Secondly, so you would not be surprised when I told you Kyle unlocked the tool shed with a touch and pulled out his dagger, once I told him where we were running. Even if we did get attacked, I would not let him use that dagger, I would rather he ran away, while I dealt sith the situation.

As a rule in our cabin, we keep most of the weapons as far away as possible. Past experience taught us that our siblings can not be trusted with sharp objects around sleeping people. It leads to bad haircuts and prank wars. The only people allowed to keep their stuff on them is Travis, Conner, and I. As the most senior campers it is our job to make sure everyone is safe at all times.

The two of us raced off, in the opposite direction of Zeus's fist. After the battle there, most campers tend to avoid that area of forest, believing it to be cursed. After about twenty minutes the sun had begun to rise. The early morning light had a calming effect on Kyle who started to slow down.

We were about to turn back when a roar like an engine sounded through the woods. Kyle and I immediately dropped into defensive crouches. My training took over and I pushed him into a bush.

"Stay here," I hissed. He nodded and pushed himself deeper into the concealing leaves. I gripped my sword tighter as I crept toward the source of the noise. It sounded like the bronze dragon did after it went haywire. Praying that Kyle has listened to me, I entered the small clearing the sound had originated from.

Peeking out from around the tree I had ducked behind, I saw a bright red sports car. The type that any teenage boy would kill for. As I watched someone stepped out of the car and stretched. I cursed.

"I should have known it would be you," I sighed stepping out from between the trees. "You scared the living crap out of Kyle and I."

Apollo snorted. "Good to see your feeling better."

"Oh, yeah, by the way, why didn't you just help me? Why did you hunt down my brothers? I mean you are the god of medicine." Apollo gave me an exasperated look.

"I can't interfere with fate, even though I am the god of prophecy and medicine," he replied as though he had said it a million times. Which he probably had.

"So what are you doing here?" I asked. His childish smile reappeared.

"Well, since I did almost kill you-"

"I don't blame you for that." I interrupted. He laughed.

"Still, I owe you one. So, today you are going to drive the sun chariot." I raised my eyebrow at him.

"I don't think that's a very good idea," I said.

"I'll be right there, besides it's an automatic, so you don't have to worry about gears."

"Wait, what?" I asked suddenly confused. "Chariots don't have gears, they have horses." Apollo patted the hood of the car.

"That style is so outdated," he smirked. "I decided to modernize, you know, for the ladies." I decided to ignore the last part, suddenly nervous.

"I don't know how to drive," I muttered. Apollo looked shocked.

"What seventeen year old hasn't at least taken driver's ed?"

"The type that lives, year round, in a camp for half greek god children. Learning to drive has never really been a priority." I snapped, suddenly irritated.

For a minute he looked disappointed. then his eyes lit up again. Not like, the normal boy 'I have a stupid idea' look! i mean his eyes actually looked like they caught fire. i took a hasty step back, causing him to laugh again and the fire to be replaced by his usual cool blue eyes.

"Sorry," he shrugged. "I didn't mean to do that."

"It's cool," I said, still a little surprised.

"Before that happened, I had an idea to solve our little problem. Since driving is so easy, I'll just teach you as we go, that way by the time we have to set and get back to camp, you'll be an expert."

"Do you think that will work?" I asked still not convinced, Apollo gave me a reassuring look.

"Don't worry about it, I'll be there the whole time and if something goes wrong I'll fix it." I nodded.

"Alright, let's do this."

**A/N I don't know why, since this chater is one that I have had planned simce the beginning but for some reason it was really hard to get right. Hopefully you all liked it.**

**I would just like to thank everyone who favorited me and this story, you guys are the reason this story is still going **


	7. Driving Lesson

"Brake!" Apollo screamed. "You're going to bake Alaska if you keep this up! Just slow down and keep the speed steady, the faster you go, the hotter it is." I eased up on the gas.

"Is that better?"

"Speed up, or else you'll start the next ice age," he tightened his grip on the seat. I speed up slightly and Apollo let out a sigh of relief.

"Thank gods, stay at this speed for a bit, I beg of you." Next to me Apollo loosened his death grip on the seat, only slightly though.

"You weren't kidding when you said you don't know how to drive," he said in a strained voice. I shot him a glare in the mirror. He held up his hands in mock surrender.

"Alright, now, you're going to need to go a little lower, sine it's the Caribbean. " I nodded and carefully maneuvered down. I smiled as I reached the right altitude.

"I did it!" I cheered. Next to me Apollo laughed.

"I knew you would, now just keep her like this for the next hour, then it's just a matter of reaching Australia, after that we'll land in the forest and I'll drop you there." I smiled at him.

"Thanks for teaching me how to drive."

"No problem," Apollo ran a hand through his hair. We sat in silence for a few minutes before he decided to break it yet again.

"Why didn't you learn to drive when you were sixteen? You should have your license by now."

"I don't leave camp, there never was a reason to learn how, it's not like there's anywhere to go anyway." I shrugged.

"So you've never wanted to see what's out there?"

"I never said that," I snapped. "It's just that I have never found a good reason to leave."

"You've never been on a quest?" I shook my head.

"The wars were enough adventure for me," Apollo laughed.

"Fair enough. Sometimes I wish I had a little less adventure in my life." I raised my eyebrow at him.

"You're a god! I think adventure comes with the title," Apollo laughed.

"True, so, tell me, why do you stay all year at camp?" I took a deep breath. It is still a hard topic to discuss.

"Well, my cabin is my family." I tried to keep it short but he pried more.

"Don't you have a mom?" Tears stung is my eyes and I blinked hard.

"She dies, on my way to camp, she saved me," I managed to say quickly before the tears started. A warm arm wrapped around my shoulders while another carefully righted the steering wheel.

"Hey, it's alright, you don't have to tell me." Apollo comforted. "I know it's hard." I nodded.

"Sorry, I just don't like to talk about it," I said quietly. "It brings back bad memories."

"Let's talk about something else." he suggested.

"Fine, now you get to tell me something."

"That depends on the question," Apollo said.

"Do you actually understand mortals, or are you like Zeus and clueless?" Apollo barked a laugh.

"I'm better than him when it comes to mortals, but I'm not that great, I honestly don't understand half the things you people do." I laughed.

"Like what?"

"It's hard to explain," he shrugged, "but enough about that. After all, you are my mortal buddy. You have to answer some questions for me." I frowned at the nickname.

"Alright," I grumbled.

"What type of music do you like?" I laughed.

"You would go right for that question," I thought for a minute. I do not listen to music often, since I am always so busy. "I guess, if I had to chose, I would probably say young punk, like Paramore and Green Day."

"Funny that you pick those two bands," Apollo laughed.

"Why?"

"Those are my kids."

Suddenly, Apollo pulled his arm from around me and sat up straiter. He cursed under his breath.

"Wha-" I started to ask but he threw his hand over my mouth with a finger pressed to his lips. Through the radio came a burst of static.

"Apollo," came a cracky voice.

"Yes, Herms?" He answered keeping is hand over my mouth, I continued in route back to Mew York.

"Don't call me that! We have a missing demigod," My father said. "She has been reported missing from camp earlier and they need your help looking, since you see everything under the sun." I. Ould practically hear the eye roll.

"Alright, who is it?" Apollo asked.

"Laura Collins, my daughter." Hermes answered after a minute, his voice was so quiet that I had to strain to hear. "You know the one you tried to hit on at the camp fire."

"You mean the blonde haired one?"

"She has black hair, 'pollo. Black hair, blue eyes, and she's short." I glared at Apollo who snickered slightly.

"Oh, I remember her, she was the one you told me never to speak to again," Apollo let out a little laugh.

"That's the one, I'll let you speak to her, only speak, if you find her," dad let out a heavy sigh. "I need you to find her, she holds the cabin together, without her my kids... oh gods, my kids, I can't even think about what would happen."

'Does dad know we're interfering with the demigods."

"No, and I won't tell him if you don't."

"Deal. I'll be at camp in a little bit, I need to set the sun, first."

"Fine, but please hurry!" The speaker clicked off and Apollo moved his hand from my mouth.

"Sorry about that," he said. "You should hurry up. They know you're gone."

"I wonder how they found out so quickly."

"Did anyone know where you were going?" Suddenly, realization hit me like a ton of bricks.

"Kyle," I gasped. Apollo raised his eyebrow at me."My brother, he was on a crazed sugar high, so I took him for a run in the forest, I left him hiding in a bush when I went to go see what the engine noise was. We thought it was the bronze dragon or something like it." Apollo laughed.

"So let me get this straight, you left your little brother in the forest, alone, just because I asked you for a drive." I felt my cheeks grow warm.

"No, I left him because I wanted to learn how to drive," I snapped. "Oh gods, my brothers are gonna kill me!" I finished in a moan. Travis and Conner were going to be angry when they found out that I had not been in a monster attack, like I was sure everyone assumed, but that I had chosen to leave my baby brother out alone in the woods while I went for a joy ride.

"Hey, hey," Apollo put his arm around my shoulders again. "I have an idea..." I groaned.

"Every single time I hear a sentence starting with that something goes wrong, and we all almost die." I groaned, banging my head into the steering wheel.

"No this is a good one," Apollo promised. "When we land, you'll run into the woods and roll around in some mud-"

"No!"

"Stop interrupting and listen!" He snapped, losing his patience. "You'll roll in the mud, maybe tangle some leaves and stuff in your hair and then I'll come around and 'find' you. That way they'll all think you got lost or something."

"That's a great idea in theory, but I think they'll realize that I am in no way hurt. Besides after the near drowning incident and this, I've caused them so much stress, they'll probably be mad at me for taking on the nonexistent monster."

"I can make it look like I healed you up before anyone got there. After all it is my specialty," Apollo winked, "and getting told off about fighting a monster that doesn't exist is better than telling your father that you disobeyed him, or rather completely ignored his warning." I sighed in defeat.

"Fine, but if they figure it out, I am so blaming you."

"Noted," Apollo smirked as we began our descent.

**A/N sorry for the late chapter I've been sick and I also joined the track team, so I have been too tired to write after practice. Hopefully, I'll start updating more often soon but for now I'm going to be off schedule. Please, don't hate me for it.**

**Also, if you are interested, I am going to be staring a companion to this story in Apollo's POV. It'll be shorter than this story but I have some interesting ideas I want to incorporate. If you want a say in the title please go to my page and vote in the poll.**

**XOXOXO**

**Magsforever**


	8. Search Party

Muttering under my breath I ran in to the dense woods as soon as the car landed. I raced through the branches slapping them aside as I ran. Not watching where I was going I fell and scraped up my knees and hands. I quickly jumped back to my feet and continued on. After running about a quarter mile I dropped the the ground and started smearing mud across my face. I heard footsteps in the distance and quickly finished that and started tangling sticks and a few leaves into my hair.

"Laura!" I heard someone yell in the distance. "Where are you?" I cursed and sped up my work. Apparently that wasn't suck a good idea since my hand slipped while holding a rather pointed stick, and scraped my cheek, drawing blood.

"Laura!" The voices were closer now. I quickly crawled under a brush and stayed as still as possible.I pressed back into the trunk of a tree. In the clearing I could hear at least three sets of footsteps. They were all slow in their movements, looking for me.

"What if she's dead?" A tear filled voice asked. I recognized it, Lynn was one of the people in the clearing. There was more shuffling and the sound of a muffled sob.

"She's not dead," Will's voice said softly. "She's a tough cookie, don't worry we'll find her." I pressed myself further back into the brush. I could not let them find me or else they would know I was lying. I needed Apollo to show up and quickly. Mentally I started to pray to Apollo.

_Oh Lord Apollo, get your sorry butt over here and save me already. There's a search party in my clearing right now and they're about for seconds from finding me. Get Over here before I kick your sorry ass._

"Dad said Apollo should be here soon to help." I bit my fist to keep from gasping and giving myself away. Travis was in the clearing.

_Hurry up! Even my siblings are out searching!_

I should probably explain why that made me so nervous. Sometimes I forget that you all do not know how the Hermes Cabin operates. Usually, when a camper goes missing they sound out a few search parties, five at the most. They usually do not allow the siblings of the lost to search since there is a possibility that they will only find the poor kids dead body. The only time they allow the siblings to help is if they are almost positive that the person is completely gone, devoured or otherwise. If Travis is here with this group, as the head councilor, that meant that all my siblings were out searching.

That meant they thought me as good as gone.

"I'm going to head back, to see if Lord Apollo is here yet," Lynn whispered. Her footsteps faded quickly into the distance. The two boys still stood in the clearing. They were silent until they were sure Lynn was gone.

"Did you guys start a shroud?" Will asked quietly.

"Not yet," Travis said in a choked voice. "I'm not ready to give up on her yet. I feel like she's just going to pop out of the bushes and ask us why we look so worried. I feel like she's sitting back in the cabin playing with Suzie and Kyle, acting as their mother. She can't be dead, it's not possible."

"I know, man, it's a hard thing to accept. But think about it, she was weak from the near drowning thing, and if she took on an automation on her own, like Kyle thinks, then it's possible that it got her."

"Shut up,Will!" Travis snapped. "She's my little sister, she's survived wars, one monster isn't gonna take her out!" The sound of a fist hitting wood sounded through the clearing and behind me some bark fell.

"Calm down, hurting yourself won't help find her. Let's head back and see what's going on." The two headed off in the same direction Lynn headed off in and as soon as I was positive they were out of earshot I let out the sob I had been holding in.

I do not know how long I sat there hidden in the brush before Apollo came. He crouched down next to my hiding spot and smiled at me.

"Hey, sorry it took so long, I had to make sure no one else was around." He helped me out of the bush. My leg was asleep and I stumbled, falling into his chest. He laughed before putting an arm behind my shoulders and using the other to knock my knees out from under me. He started to walk while holding me bridal style.

"Hey, put me down," I snapped.

"Nope, it's all part of the plan sweetheart," he laughed.

"Your plan is to carry me into camp?"

"Well, I was thinking more along the lines of sweeping you off your feet and heroically carrying the injured princess back to her worried brothers, who will then scold her for being careless. Oh, and somewhere in there a kiss would be nice."

"You can kiss my-"

"Hey now, no need to get vulgar!"

"Fine," I said quietly.

"Now, I need you to put you head against my shoulder and pretend to fall asleep," Apollo said quietly as we reached the edge of the forest. The green overhead started to fade into the orange of a summer's sunset.

"Alright," I sighed leaning against him. My eyes fluttered shut on their own accord and I found myself half asleep. I was still able to feel the bounce of Apollo's footsteps and the cool breeze on my face, but at the same time it all felt like a vivid dream.

"Oh gods, please tell me she's alive," someone cried out.

"She's fine, go to your cabin," Apollo said. My arms were getting a little cold so I snuggled closer to the warm chest next to me. He laughed.

'Getting comfortable, are you?" I groaned.

"Why am I so sleepy?" I mumbled, barely audible to even myself.

"I may have used a small sleeping spell on you, nothing too major. It'll only make you drowsy for now, shouldn't put you to sleep just yet, at least I hope not."

"I am so getting beck at you for this," I tried to sound angry, but the effect was ruined by a wide yawn. Apollo chuckled.

"I would expect nothing less, now I suggest you keep quiet, you're almost home now." The sound of crying filled the air around me. I could hear the slightly stifled sniffs and sobs. A door flew open and slammed against something.

"Oh gods, Laura!" came a tear filled voice. "Is she breathing? It doesn't look like she's breathing? Where did you find her?"

"Why don't you let me in and then we'll all discuss what happened," Apollo said. "Is your father here?"

"Yeah, I'm in here," came my fathers voice. Apollo started walking again and practically bounced up the stairs. I was forced to grab his shirt to keep myself from falling. Apollo chuckled quietly. The sound of a door slamming from behind us sounded through the now silent air.

"Which bunk is hers?"

"Just put here on mine," Conner said. "It's right next to you." I felt myself being lowered to the bed. I shivered once Apollo withdrew his arms. He is warmer than the average person. I felt a few blankets get piled on top of me and the edge of the bed dipped when someone sat down.

"So where was she?" My dad said from somewhere off to the left.

"She was under a brush, that's why it took so long to find her, she was pretty beat up, I healed most of it."

"If you healed her then why are her face, arm, and knees still scratched up?"

"I couldn't heal everything you know," Apollo placed his hand on my knee. The voices around me became more and more detached. My head was filling with fog. Then it all went black.

**A/N I can't believe how much attention this fic is getting. I would like to thank all of you for your support, without you I would not be doing this**

**Please vote for the title of the companion story and message me if there's anything you want to see in this story**

**XOXOXO**


	9. Suspicious

I woke up the next morning to find the cabin completely empty, except for one person. He had his back to me when I sat up and stretched.

"Hello," I croaked, my throat dry from heavy sleep. The sun shone brightly outside, like it was mid afternoon. Hermes turned around and gave me a small smile.

"Hey, good to see you're finally up." He came and sat down at the foot of the bed and I pulled my knees up to my chest to make him room.

"So, I'm just going to get right to it," he said. "I know you weren't hurt in that forest yesterday. We would have found you if you were. So tell me what really happened?"

"Nothing," I said quickly. "I chased down the automation and it turned on me."

"Mhmm," Hermes said scratching his ear. "I'll pretend to believe you. But if you pull a stunt like that again, I will get the whole story out of you."

"I am telling the truth," I said. Dad gave me a sideways look.

"Whatever. Just tell me one thing, who were you with?"

"No one, I was with Kyle but I left him so the thing wouldn't kill him," I said. Hermes' warning, the last time we saw each other, still rung in my ears. I could never tell him that I ignored him.

"You were with that boy again weren't you?"

"The one you told me to stay away from?" Father nodded. "No, I haven't seen him since the campfire. Who was he anyway? Why do you care if I see him?"

"You don't need to know who he is," he cleared is throat, "and I warned you to keep you safe, I don't want anything bad to happen to you."

"Well, you don't have to worry about it," I said quietly. Just then the door flew open and Conner walked in.

"Hey. Laura good to see your up, I was told to tell you that when you're up and about again the Ares cabin wants to talk about a possible alliance on Friday night."

"Tell them I'll stop by tomorrow," Conner nodded before whispering something to dad who nodded.

"Tell him to behave himself and that he can come if he listened to my instructions." Again Conner nodded before smiling at me and jogging out the door.

"What was that about?" I asked as soon as the door had slammed behind him.

"Do you remember anything from last night?"

"No," I lied. "What does that have to do with anything?"

'Well, Lord Apollo was the one to save you. He is insisting he speaks to you to make sure you're alright," Hermes sighed heavily. "Actually, he probably wants to hit on you, so I'm going to be here as well, it should only be a few minutes." I almost laughed. I had forgotten that Apollo had only agreed to 'find' me if he got to speak to me after.

'Alright," I said. The door flew open with a loud bang. Standing there was a blonde man with a buzz cut. I knew it was Apollo by the way he winked at me but it was strange seeing him this way. Every time so far we had met he had been in 'teenage' form, this was more like he was in his thirties, an ex-sniper for the army and he was fearless. I was actually intimidated by him in this form. He did not look anything like the funny, cool, nice guy I had spent the past few days getting to know.

"Did someone mention me?" Hermes rolled his eyes.

"Hello to you to brother, this is Laura." Apollo smirked.

"Good to see those baby blues open, sweetheart." I turned bright red and coughed.

"Thank you for finding and healing me," I mumbled.

"Anything for a cutie like you," Apollo winked at me again.

"That's enough," Father snapped. "Must you hit on every girl you meet?"

"I don't hit on you do I?" I giggled a little at that, but was silenced by the look Hermes gave me.

"See even your kid agrees with me," Apollo said triumphantly. Hermes crossed his arms like a small child.

"Just do what you came here for and leave already," he snapped. Apollo smiled.

'Fine, Laura I need you to kick off the blankets for a minute." I did as I was told. He quickly checked places like my stomach, ribs and knee, where there had been no real injuries to begin with. He started to stand up and shook my hand, pressing a neatly folded paper into it.

"It was nice to meet you, Laura," he said with a wide smile. Hermes tapped his foot impatiently by the door as he stood back up and went to leave. "Oh and one more thing, I wouldn't suggest looking for any more automatons anytime soon." I smiled a little.

"I'll try to resist."

"That's what I like to hear," with that he walked out the door and Hermes closed it behind him.

"Well, I have to go too, lots of backed up deliveries. Tell the others I'll be back in two weeks," I nodded. Hermes gave me an awkward hug and went toward the door. After one last suspicious glance he left. I sighed and leaned back against the pillows.

The paper in my hand felt thick and expensive. It was a golden yellow color and had my name neatly printed on the front. I carefully unfolded the paper, so I would not rip it.

_Sweetheart,_

_Sorry about the new form, your father insisted. He also said I was not allowed to sing, dance, hire circus monkeys, or bring candy. Now, after yesterday, I think we should be more careful about when we hang out. Your father has grown suspicious of my absences. Meet me after Capture the Flag by the pine tree._

_Your friend,_

_Apollo_

_P.S. A haiku for you_

_Good luck with the Ares kids_

_I cheer for my group_

I laughed and put the paper in the shirt with the arrow.

**A/N Please please vote for the title for the Apollo side of things. I really want to start writing it but I can't pick one. Also check out my one shot Exhaustion about Will's recovery after the loss of Michael**

**XOXOXo**


	10. Capture the Flag

"Alright, so your cabin will have first shift showers for the next month in exchange for your alliance tomorrow night," I nodded.

"Sounds good, we will see you then," I shook hands with Mark and left the Ares Cabin to find Travis and Conner. The two of them always left it to me to make the alliances for capture the flag since I was the only one capable of doing so without trying to pull some sort of prank or aggravating the cabin.I found Conner in the strawberry patch hitting on Katie. I waved him over.

"We're with the Ares Cabin tomorrow, they offered first shower slot," Conner smiled.

"That's great. Did you tell Travis yet?" I shook my head.

"I only just finished setting up the alliance."

"I'll tell him." Conner said. "Can you pick Mike, Kyle, and Suzie up from the Athena Cabin, they're in summer school?" I laughed.

"Of course," I started off toward the cabin. I never really went there unless I needed homework help or I was picking up on of the kids. It was never a place I felt welcome.

"Hey guys," I greeted from the door. "Ready to go?" Mike and Kyle both jumped to their feet and ran toward me. Suzie on the other hand was hanging upside down from one of the bunks, trying to cut Alec's hair.

"Suzie, leave his hair alone," I snapped. "Sorry, Al." He smiled at me.

"It's alright, Annie told me to ask you if you had an alliance for tomorrow." I smiled apologetically as I put Suzie on my shoulders.

"Sorry, I just finalized the deal with Ares, maybe next time." Alec smiled.

"Eh, it's alright, see you later." I waved goodbye and lead my siblings out of the cabin.

"He likes you," Mike said as we walked.

"What makes you say that?" I asked.

"Well, he asked me if you had a boyfriend and I heard him talking to Annie, he wants to ask you to the fireworks."

"Oh," was all I said.

The next night was one of excitement. The first capture the flag game of the summer, led by the two most competitive cabins. I helped the little guys into their armor before strapping on mine.

My armor is one of a kind, Beckendorf made it for me back in the day. Of course it has been adjusted a few times since then. It is made of standard Celestial Bronze but it has a bunch of hidden pockets for spare knives and even an extra sword. It also has an emergency mode. If I am on the last of my weapons it electrifies the outer casing of the armor, making it so if a metal object touches me the person holding it will get electrocuted. The amazing part is I don't feel a thing.

"You're gonna need this," he said when he had finished it. "I know your type, even if they don't let you fight in the war, you'll find your way to the front line."

He was right. I was supposed to stay back at camp during the Battle of Manhattan but I managed to hide in the van until it was too late to bring me back. I got in trouble for that afterwords but it was worth it.

"Laura and Will are scouts," Mark said. Will gave me a look of panic. He was a long distance fighter, not a front man like me.

"It's alright just stay at my back and if someone gets close tell me yell," I said. "Hey, do you have any sonic arrows on you?" Will smirked.

"Of course, why?"

"I have an idea on how to get the flag," I smiled. "Just have one ready and shoot when I tell you." Will nodded. In the distance the conch sounded. Battle cries rang through the woods. I pulled my sword from it's scabbard and held it at the ready.

"Lets go," I said to Will. We both sprinted toward the river. I leaped over it while Will took the more cautious route of stepping from stone to stone.

"Hurry up," I hissed from the other side. "They'll find us if you don't speed it up." Will flipped me off.

"Not all of us are freaking rockets who can launch ourselves over rivers." He reached my side and slowly the two of us went off to the right. We made our way slowly through the dense woods, taking care not to make too much noise. Up ahead there was the sound of two voices.

"Keep an extra eye for Hermes and Apollo kids," a harsh boy's voice said.

Why?" A soft girls voice said. Obviously, pretty new if she did not know the most basic rule of the game.

"They're a sneaky bunch. Especially, the Hermes ones. Watch out for two boys with curly brown hair and a short black haired girl especially. The three of them are the worst."

"Will," I whispered. "Climb that tree and see who it is, I'm going to go west meet me at the next clearing." Will nodded and strapped his bow to his back. I started to creep through the trees, I was almost past the sound of the voices when a twig snapped under foot.

"Box 'em in," the boys hissed. Around me the sounds of leaves crunching, and the occasional flash of metal. A hand wrapped around my mouth.

"Climb," Will hissed. I nodded and the two of us quickly scaled the closest tree. Will drew his bow and angled it down. The trees around us rustled as two Athena kids burst out of the woods. I was right about the girl, she had only arrived the first day of camp. The boy on the other hand i recognized. It was Alec

"I could've sworn they were here," the girl stamped her foot in aggravation. Alec looked up.

"Hey Laura, how's it hanging?" he laughed. I twirled my hair around my finger.

"Pretty good, though I could use some food, maybe a drink," I smiled sweetly. The girl glowered at me.

"Get down here, we have you." I rolled my eyes.

"Hold on," I pretended to file my nails. "Sonic arrow," I hissed. Up slightly higher I heard Will chuckle.

"Got it." I jumped down from the tree sword drawn. Alec put his arm out to stop the girl from advancing.

"Careful, Molly, she's a tricky one," he whispered. "What are you planning, Laura?"

"Nothing," I tried to act innocent. Alec was having none of it.

"I know you. Molly check the tree, someone else is up there." Just then a loud blast erupted next to me. The three of us fell to our knees holding our ears. Will grabbed my hand.

"Come on," he dragged me to my feet and the two of us took off in the direction Alec and Molly had come from. Not a half mile later the banner became visible. Will and I exchanged smirks.

"I'll get it," I whispered. "Watch my flank as we run. Shoot a sonic if anyone gets too close." Will smiled.

"Next time, I get it," I nodded. Quick as a flash the two off us took off. Using the butt of my sword I knocked over one of the guards and grabbed the flag. Without slowing I wheeled around and started racing toward the river. I had barely made it a hundred feet before the shouts started. I picked up the pace, causing the greens around me to blur. My feet barely touched the ground as I raced toward the bank.

I had almost reached it when Will shouted. A quick look behind me showed that he had been pulled into a head lock by one of the Hephaestus guys. Two more were advancing on me, along with Alec and Annie.

"Run," Will yelled at me. The river bank came into view. Our guards were waving to me encouraging me to speed up. My shoe caught on a branch and my ankle twisted but I kept going. I made a flying leap over the creek and landed on my butt.

Chiron appeared, sounding the conch shell. The banner in my hands shimmered and changed from the owl of Athena, to my father's caduceus. Lynn and Conner materialized at my side and lifted me onto their shoulders. I held the banner high.

"We won!" I yelled. Will emerged from across the river. Travis and Mike lifted him up. The yells and cheers got louder as the other team emerged from their side.

"Laura," Alec called. The others put me down. Someone had tied the banner around my neck, making it into a cape of sorts.

"Hey, Alec, sorry about the arrow," I smiled apologetically. He shrugged.

"No biggie, so I was wondering, willyougotothefireworkswithm e?" I raised my eyebrow at him.

"Can you slow it down? I couldn't hear you."

"Will you go to the fireworks with me?"

"Sure, Alec smiled widely and kissed my cheek. Blushing he ran away. I raised my fingers to my cheek in confusion.

**A/N Please don't hate for the love triangle of sorts. I know it's cliché now, but it'll become important later. I promise. After the next chapter the poll will be closed so please get your votes in **

**Please tell me what you think**

**XOXO**


	11. Pine Tree

Walking up the hill, dressed in armor with a ten foot long 'cape' is no easy task. It was almost like climbing the rock wall without using your feet, and yes, before anyone asks, I have tried that, and I did make it to the top, just with some new burns. So needless to say by the time I reached Apollo, he was doubled up in laughter.

"I... have... never seen... someone... fall that much... In all my years of existence .." he managed to gasp out between laughs. I glared at him. I pulled off my breastplate and put it on the ground with my red plumed helmet. I detached my belt and let my sword drop. I left the banner on since it was my badge of honor.

"You done?" I snapped. He nodded.

"So what's with the get up?" I smirked.

"I just won Capture the Flag," I said smugly.

"Oh, I saw that, you wouldn't have made it if Will hadn't let those guys catch him," Apollo said. I rolled my eyes.

"I was almost there when they got him anyway."

"Still I think my cabin should have won."

"Well," I said with a smug smile, "I'm the one who carried it over the river, so my cabin won, I'll tell your guys better luck next time."

"Fine," Apollo pressed his back to the tree and slid down to the grass. He patted the spot next to him. "You might as well sit, you look exhausted." I flopped down next to him, rather ungracefully.

"Nah, I'm not tired at all," I tried unsuccessfully to stifle a yawn, he snorted.

"Not tired, my ass," I laughed. "So, are you excited for the fireworks next week?" I shrugged.

"Yeah, it'll be fun," Apollo elbowed me.

"You don't sound very happy."

"I am," I shot him a crooked grin. "It's just that they always remind me of..." I trailed off. The fireworks reminded me of the Titan War. To me the explosions sounded like the roars of the monsters and the screams of my fallen friends and siblings. The fireworks themselves were beautiful but the noise always ruined it for me.

I guess you can say I have not gotten over the war yet.

"What?" Apollo asked. "Come on, you can tell me."

"The war. They remind me of the battle against Kronos' Army," I smiled sadly. Apollo's easy smile disappeared.

"I take it that the war was hard on you?" I started to pick at the grass.

"It was hard on all of us, everyone lost someone important to them," I quickly wiped the tears from my eyes.

"How old were you?"

"Eleven."

"And they let you fight?" Apollo looked completely shocked. A small giggle escaped me.

"Well, not exactly, we hid in the van until we reached Olympus."

"We?" I coughed awkwardly. I really did not want to discuss what happened next, especially with Apollo. The pain was still too fresh and I had had six years to try to get over it.

"Well, there were three of us, me, Colleen, daughter of Athena, and your son Danny. Lynn was supposed to be with us but Argus caught her." I did not try to stop the tears now, hopefully Apollo would understand. "Colleen and Danny were killed, the Lamia got them. She would've gotten me too if...if Will... if he hadn't seen me and shoot her."

I gulped at the end. Apollo held out his arms for me. I crawled over and knotted my hands into his shirt, my face pressed against his shoulder. I let myself sob, really sob, for the first time since the war. Six years worth of tears made their appearance. Tears that I had hidden behind a fake smile. Gut wrenching sobs that caused my entire body to shake with the force of them. Apollo wrapped the banner carefully around my legs, since the night had begun to grow cold.

"I'm sorry," I mumbled once I had run out of tears.

"Don't be, it's hard to get over loss, I would know." Apollo shifted so I was pretty much sitting in his lap. "Besides, I still get upset thinking about kids I lost thousands of years ago." I tilted my head to look into his eyes.

"I let your son die, I ran away when he needed me. Why are you comforting me?" Apollo chuckled.

"Well, the way I see it is, you were both eleven, there is no way in Tartarus you would have been able to take on Lamia. You're very lucky to be alive, Danny was destined to die, I knew the minute he went into battle, that's not your fault. So don't blame yourself."

"How did you know?" Apollo laughed.

"Are you sure you're not one of Athena's kids? Because you sure do act like one sometimes," I snorted.

"I get that a lot actually," I smiled a little. The first thing Travis asked me when I got to camp was if my dad was a smart man. He had looked completely shocked when I told him I had never met my dad. "I know you're the god of prophecy, but how does that work? Is it like pictures or what?"

"It's actually really simple," Apollo laughed. "Your dad even figured it out. But, basically, I see the future like a video, but at the same time I can see the emotions, almost like colors..."

"Like an aura?" I asked. Apollo smiled.

"Exactly, so I can see the emotions of someone's past, present and future. The problem is, if I tell a mortal what it is I see, it'll change and usually for the worse. "

"So you can't tell me my future?" I frowned. "Then prophecy sounds like a crappy thing to have."

"It can be, but it's also awesome, like me," Apollo winked.

"Can you see my future?" I asked. Apollo frowned.

"Yes," he bit his lip. "I wish I could tell you but parts are still blurry, even to me. You still have some choices to make before anything becomes permanent."

"Is what you see good or bad?" Apollo gave me a strange look. Like he was in pain or had eaten something sour. Something told me what he saw wasn't all moon beams and star light.

"Can't tell you that either."

"Is there anything you actually can tell me?" Apollo scratched his chin.

"I'm not gonna risk it," I groaned and rolled my eyes.

"I'll find out eventually."

"I know you will, that's kinda how the future works," I laughed.

"I have a dorky question..."

"Oh this should be good..." Apollo groaned.

"Will we have flying cars in my lifetime?" Apollo and I both started laughing. We laughed so hard that he loosened his grip on me too much and I wound up rolling down the hill. My banner wrapped around me, becoming almost like mummy linens

"You alright?" he laughed.

"Fine," I giggled, disentangling myself. I looked up at the dark night sky with it's millions of twinkling lights. A burst of white flew across it moving so fast I almost missed it.

"Shooting star," I smiled remembering all the times my mom told me to wish on them. Remembering how silly the wishes were, like for a horse or that I would pass a quiz.

"Make a wish," Apollo whispered suddenly next to me. I tilted my head back and closed my eyes.

_I wish it could always be like this._

**_A/N Oooooh I feel the urge to sing the Lion King song about feeling the love. But I shall resist (for now) This one was just so much fun to write. Like I actually really had fun diving further into the characters, hopefully you all liked it as much as I did. Quick note moon beams and star light is a family saying for romance and happiness. I couldn't think of any other way to put it._**

**_XOXOX_**


	12. Fourth of July

The next week and a half passed relatively uneventfully. Well, as uneventful as possible anyway. Alec started to meet up with me after meals and the two of us would just sit and talk. I found myself looking forward to seeing him. Travis and Conner tried to scare the poor guy off by threatening to set the little guys on him. Poor Alec almost ran away when he saw Kyle's purple foaming mouth.

The fourth of July came more quickly then I would have liked. The gods all started to arrive around lunchtime. After about ten minutes of meaningless talk with my father, I ducked away from my siblings. I went into the common area, in the hope that everyone else was too busy with their families. Alec was sitting next to the hearth as I approached.

"Hey," I said sitting down next to him. He smiled and draped his arm around my shoulders.

"Hi. What are you doing out here?"

"Needed some air, how about you? Isn't your mom here?"Alec sighed.

"Yeah, but I needed some air." I laughed.

"It's alright," I said, snuggling into his side. "Tell you the truth, I'm hiding too." The two of us fell into a comfortable silence until the conch blew. I stood up and stretched.

"Come on, lazy bones, fireworks." Alec groaned and struggled to his feet.

"Can't we skip them?"

"I wish, but even I wouldn't risk it," Alec snorted.

"Well, then, we should probably get going then." Laughing the two of us started toward the beach. We were about halfway there when Alec threaded his fingers through mine. We continued on holding hands to the blanket Lynn and her date Milo were already seated on. Lynn wolf whistled as I pulled Alec down next to her.

"What's up?" Lynn shrugged.

"Nothing really, saw dad earlier, but he disappeared with Trav and Con." I raised an eyebrow at her.

"You mean my brothers?" Lynn nodded. I nervously looked over my shoulder.

"I get the strange feeling they're planning something." I whispered as a group of Aphrodite girls walked past. Lynn nodded.

"Oh, without a doubt," Before I could respond the first fireworks started. Alec pulled me to his side and I rested my head on his shoulder. Above us the fireworks showed images of the greatest Greek heros. I smiled a little toward the end when Luke's face appeared in the sky. It made me happy to see he would not be forgotten.

As the last of the fireworks were fading into the now dark night sky, Alec leaned over and pressed his lips to mine. His kiss was comfortable and sweet. I smiled into the kiss and wrapped my arms around his neck. Just as I was about to close my eyes, I saw a flash of brown and blond.

I ignored it and let myself get lost in the kiss. A second later I regretted it as something sticky poured down on top of me. Alec and I jumped apart. Three boys stood laughing on our right.

"Travis, Conner," I snapped. "You two are so dead." The two boys held up their hands in mock surrender still laughing. The third boy grew still when I spoke. As soon as I looked closer at him I stormed off. Honey dripped into my eyes. I blamed my tears on that.

_How could he do this to me? I thought we were friends! He's a greek god, shouldn't he have better things to do than to ruin my social life? _

A hand closed around my wrist as I approached my cabin. I was turned around quickly. Apollo stood there holding my wrist between us.

"Let go," I snarled. Apollo shook his head.

"Hey, I just did you a favor," he said with a smirk. "That kid isn't good for you." I rolled my eyes.

"What in the name of Zeus, are you talking about? Alec is exactly what I need! Besides who are you to decide who I can and cannot date?" Apollo snorted.

"Well, I'm Apollo, you know a god, and I know you. Trust me you don't want a guy like that."

"Then what kind of guy do I want?" I snapped. Apollo looked down at his toes and mumbled something.

"What?" I raised my eyebrows at him. "If you have nothing to say, let go of me, I have more important things to do than fight with you."

"Someone like me!" Apollo yelled. "You need someone like me, not some know it all kid, who you have nothing in common with." My jaw dropped.

"That isn't funny," I yelled back. "Not funny at all!"

"It wasn't meant to be," Apollo said softly. He released my wrist and I pulled back. "Laura, I'm not kidding." I started to back away and he took a small step towards me, holding out his hands.

"Just listen to me for a minute. And then if you still want me to leave I will."

"Not here," I said, shaking my head quickly. Apollo nodded and started toward his cabin. He lead me around back. As soon as he stopped he turned around and faced me.

"Listen, I'm really sorry about throwing the honey over you. I really am but trust me I did you a favor. That Alec boy is not the person you think he is. I would know," Apollo said it all quickly, like I was going to stop him. "I think I'm falling for you, Laura Collins, like in love with you." I rolled my eyes.

"First off, you 'fall in love' quite often if the sheer number of children you have is anything to go by? Secondly, even if you did actually like me, it's illegal. You know the laws." Apollo threw up his arms in frustration.

"Just because I love you doesn't mean we need to have a kid! It's only illegal if I get you pregnant. " I crossed my arms over my chest, more to do with how cold and sticky I was than with my anger. Apollo looked into my eyes as he said the next Part.

"Besides, I might have loved those women but I was never _in _love with any of them." I shook my head.

"You can't be serious," I pressed my palms to my eyes like a child. Apollo carefully pulled my hands away.

"I am completely serious," he said still holding my hands. His touch was hot and gave me a warm feeling inside. His eyes bored into mine. "Laura, I'm falling in love with you. Would you, please, give me a chance?" Not trusting myself to speak I nodded.

Apollo smiled and hugged me. Pulling back he held his arms out, his face contorted in disgust. I started to laugh.

"Hey, you can't blame me, you're the one who dumped honey on me." Apollo shrugged.

"Totally worth it."

**A/N I really like how this chapter turned out, it took ten tries and a bag of chips but I think it was worth it :) **

**Also, my family and I are going on vacation so I won't be updating for two weeks. **

**Please tell me what you thought**

**XOXOXO**


	13. Confrontation

Apollo led me out from the ally and together we started toward my cabin. He had a new bounce in his step as we headed back toward the common area. The air around him seemed to buzz with happiness. The effect was intoxicating and as we rejoined the crowd of demigods I found myself feeling light as air.

The feeling disappeared the moment I saw Alec. He was standing in front of my cabin talking to Conner. The two were standing close and using there hands as they spoke. It was obvious they were fighting and it was getting ugly quickly. Next to me Apollo stopped.

"Forgot about him," he mumbled, sounding dejected. Then he stood up straighter and started toward the cabin before I could stop him. Cursing I ran after him.

- do you think you are?" Alec snapped as I came skidding to a halt. He was in Apollo's face practically screaming. Conner stood to Apollo's right looking furious. I came to stand on his other side as he smirked down at Alec.

"I happen to be a god," he said looking smug. Alec snorted.

"You? Yeah,alright, pretty boy, whatever you say," he snarled, "but you still made my girlfriend so angry she stormed off. " I raised my eyebrow. _He's talking about me like I'm not here._

_"_You asked her out barely two weeks ago," Conner snapped. "She isn't your anything."

"She is mine and you know it." I clenched my fist and took a step forward, Apollo put his hand on my arm.

"Laura isn't an object," he said dangerously. "I don't suggest speaking over her like one." Conner nodded. Alec made a frustrated noise.

"Whatever, I don't even care, but I need to find her, so did either of you two see which way she went?" Apollo and Conner exchanged looks and both pointed in different directions.

"She went that way." Alec cursed.

"I'm serious, where did she go?"

"Over the river and through the woods," Apollo said still pointing in the direction of the Big House. Alec clenched his fists at his sides. His eyes darkening in anger.

"Why do you care, Mr. God?" Apollo's eyes narrowed and his hand grew even hotter against my arm.

"You, foolish boy, may call me Lord Apollo," he hissed. "I care because she is a woman, one who deserves respect." Alec let out a cold laugh.

"Oh, I'm sorry, did I hurt your ego?" he said coldly. Conner looked slightly scared as he took a small step back. Apollo smiled at him.

"It's alright, Mr. Stoll," he said. I noticed his features begin to change from the young army sniper look, toward a more traditional representation of himself. His hair grew longer and curlier and his eyes burned with the white hot flame I had only seen once before.

"I don't suggest you continue your current behavior, that is if you don't want yourself turned into a woodland animal for my sister's hunters to practice with."

"All you gods are the same," Alec laughed. "The minute a pretty girl is involved you all swarm in. That will be your down fall." Apollo's grip grew uncomfortably tight. Then he smiled and let go of my arm. Alec and Conner both looked at me shocked. Alec recovered first.

"Laura, I was looking for you. Are you alright?" I smiled at him widely and stepped forward as though I meant to hug him. As he stepped forward to meet me I swung my arm out and slapped him. The resulting sound rang through the now empty common area.

Alec staggered back clutching his now red cheek. Conner laughed and put his arm around my shoulders.

"I take it you heard the whole thing?" I gave Apollo a small smile.

"I heard enough." Alec opened his mouth to speak again but shut it when he saw the look I gave him.

"Get out of here," I snarled. "Leave my cabin alone because if you bother any of us again, a slap will be the least of your problems." Alec scrambled toward the stairs.

"The gods have blinded you, Laura. They're the ones you should be fighting, not me. Your brother had it right, he just didn't go about it the right way." Conner pulled a pocket knife out and started toward Alec. I grabbed his arm and pulled him back.

"Get out of here," he hissed, "and don't talk about Luke like you knew him." Alec laughed and walked away. As soon as he was out of sight I let go of Conner. For a minute he looked like he wanted to chase Alec down but then he sighed.

"I'm sorry about earlier, sis," he mumbled. I laughed.

"Don't be, if you hadn't done it..." I shivered. Conner smiled and gave me a hug before going inside the cabin. Apollo pulled me into a hug as soon as the door slammed behind him.

"I'm sorry about that," he whispered. "I wanted you to hear what he was saying. I didn't realize how heated it was becoming."

"It's alright," I felt Apollo smile into my hair.

"So can I take this as you two breaking up?" I giggled.

"If you want."

"Good, so now I don't have to feel bad about earlier," he laughed a little. Then he pulled away.

"I have to go say good bye to my kids," he said. I nodded.

"I'll see you soon, right?" Apollo looked toward the golden cabin. He shook his head.

"Zeus has requested we all stay on Olympus for the rest of the summer, the new prophecy worries him." Apollo turned back to me, his eyes wide with sadness and something else. "I'll try to come back as soon as I possibly can, but it might be a while."

He bit his lip uncertainly for a second before bending forward and pressing his lips to my forehead. The skin where he touched tingled until he pulled away. He smiled down at me before jumping off the stairs and starting across the basketball court.

**A/N I'm baaackkkkkk! Did y'all miss me? So this chapter was a request be one of the reviewers :D If you want to see something in this foc don't hesitate to ask me! **

**Also apparently this fic was suggested in another story. If someone would give me the name of the author so I can thank them that would be amazing!**

**Love always!**


	14. Birthday Babe

Apollo took to leaving me notes after that day. Every night I would get back to the cabin and on my bed would be a little folded square of paper with his old fashioned handwriting. Sp,etimes there would be a small present with them, like a flower or a set of new headphones (the note accompanying those said they were so I wouldn't ruin his children's taste in music.) The notes were usually short but at the end he would always say the same thing.

_Until the sun shines only on you._

That simple statement never failed in making me smile. With each passing day I became more anxious for the end of summer. The notes were put in my trunk in the small pocket that was slowly filling with bits of paper and trinkets.

The end of summer was fast approaching and I was anxious for it. This year I would be given the choice of leaving camp for good or staying on as a councilor for another year. Lynn had already decided to try her hand at the real world with her brother Will. Travis and Conner were ready to leave as well.

I felt like I was ready to move on as well, but I didn't want to leave my family behind. I loved them all as though we had all grown up in the same house and spent our early years on the playground together. I wasn't sure I wanted to leave that close knit bind behind.

On the morning of my eighteenth birthday, I woke early. The sun shone directly across my pillow, which was strange because I had chosen my bed to be as far from the windows as possible. Groaning I rolled over and covered my face with my pillow.

"Ten more minutes," I mumbled. A deep laugh rumbled above me.

"Are you always this cheery in the morning?" I jumped and pulled the pillow off my head. Apollo stood in front of me, glowing slightly. I groaned.

"You meant it literally?" I rubbed my eyes sleepily and sat up. Apollo laughed again.

"You know it, Queen Bird-nest." My hands shot to my hair and I sighed. He was right, it was a mess.

"Why are you here?" I asked crawling across my bed to reach my trunk and hairbrush. "I thought Olympus was closed..."

Apollo snorted. "It's actually quite easy to sneak out if you know the right people."

"You still haven't answered my question," I grumbled, yanking the brush through my hair.

"It's your birthday! What kind of-" Apollo trailed off looking uncertain. I smiled encouragingly. "What kind of boyfriend would I be if I missed your birthday?"

"Honestly, I don't really celebrate my birthday," I shrugged. Apollo opened and closed his mouth a few times. He kind of looked like a startled fish. Or at least how I imagined one would look.

"No birthday party?" I shook my head.

"No cake?"

"No cake," I said. Apollo grabbed my arm and pulled me out of bed.

"We must fix this, after all, you only get to celebrate yourself once a year, unless you're awesome like me." He added the last part almost to himself. Something told me he liked to celebrate himself quite a lOt. I groaned and flopped back onto my bed. I pulled the blanket over my head and pressed the pillow over it.

"What are you doing?" Apollo's voice came muffled.

"Sleeping," I groaned. "You know what normal people do until the last possible second." Apollo tried to pry the pillow and blanket away from my face. I gripped it tighter and tried to roll away. This resulted in me falling ungracefully to the floor. I stayed huddled on the floor.

"Are you alive?" Apollo asked kicking my side lightly.

"If I say no will you leave?"

"Nope, you get me all day," he laughed. Finally managing to pull the blanket from my face. I giggled and wrapped my arms around his neck.

"What's the plan then?" I mumbled. I was hoping that snuggling would give me a few more minutes of sleep but apparently Apollo had other plans.

"You're getting dressed, in nice clothes and we're going out, Ive already cleared it with Chiron," I frowned.

"what about dad?" Apollo laughed.

"He's busy all day, sweetheart." I smiled and stood up from the floor. I quickly found myself a pair of denim shorts and a purple tank top.

"So where are you taking me?" Apollo shook his head, a sly smile crossing his face.

"You'll find out soon."

"Can I at least have a hint?"

"Your brothers, Will and Lynn are meeting us the for the first part," he said after a pause. "But that's all you're getting out of me, until you're dressed and in the car."

**A/N IM SO SORRY! Ive been really busy woth school, but I only have another six days and then I'm off and you'll get regular updates again, I promise. This chapter is really really shor. Because I wrote it during a study break but I promise that the next one will be out soon**

**Love always 3**


	15. Home

Apollo's sun chariot waited for us just past Thalia's Tree. The red "car" was not in it's usual sports mode, but was in the shape of a nice old pickup truck. It was the type of car my mom had when I was younger. He climbed into the driver's seat as we approached and I gave him a look.

"You don't know where we're going," he laughed. I crossed my arms and slid into the spot next to him. Apollo leaded over and kissed my cheek.

"Come on, babe," he said. "You're gonna love what we're doing."

"Can I _know_ what we're doing?" Apollo shook his head.

"All I know is that Lynn and Will asked me to being you some place in ten minutes. Apparently they have a surprise for you."

"They're gonna try to throw me in a ditch or something, aren't they?" Apollo snorted as The car began to rise. I half expected it to sputter out like the one I had grown up with, but it rose smoothly without even so much as a noise.

"Listen, if they try to kill you I'll stop them, but they're your friends and I highly doubt they want you dead."

"Fine," I smiled. I had missed Apollo, his notes were nice, but there was something sbout his presence that just made me feel happy."Wait, why did they ask you to drive me, why didn't they just do it?"

"Well, they wanted to get there early and because this is only the first part of the day, after this they're taking you shopping for some stuff and then I'm gonna meet you back here at seven."

"What are we doing at seven." Apollo turned slightly towards me and grinned.

"That's the real surprise." For the rest of the short ride I tried, unsuccessfully, to get him to spill. As the car began to descend Apollo handed me a tie. It was orange and green and looked like someone had used it as a napkin. I wrinkled my nose at it.

"What is that thing?"

"Just put it on, I really don't want Lynn coming after me," I laughed. An angry Lynn is something I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. I quickly tied the colorful monstrosity around my eyes. I could feel the car descending but couldn't see anything. I heard the door open and then silence. To my right the door popped open. Warm hands grabbed my arm and helped me to my feet.

"Whatever you do, don't act like we're going out, your father is here," Apollo whispered as we started forward. I nodded. The ground beneath my feet was uneven and squishy. The air smelled tangy, almost like grapes that have been left out in the sun. The smell was comforting.

"Oh, good, you're here," I heard my father say. "They were starting to worry." Next to me Apollo laughed.

"She wouldn't wake up." I tried to slap at him but in my blind state I only succeeded in falling over myself. I heard muffled laughter and shushing.

"Can someone please tell me why I'm here?" I asked trying to stand back up without completely embarrassing myself. It didn't work, as I wound up falling again.

"Hold on," Hermes said. "Just a few more seconds." I heard shuffling feet and a few muttered instructions. Then the tie was yanked free.

One my vision cleared up, I gasped. Before me was a beautiful house. It looked to be about two stories tall with a light blue paint job and white shutters. It had a long gravel driveway and a beautiful porch that wrapped around the house. The little white mail box said 409 Heather Court. We were in the Hamptons. Behind the house there was a big yard that stretched acres. At the very edge of the property I could see a patch of calm blue water.

Lynn, Travis, Conner, and Will were sitting on the front porch smiling. They were holding up a cardboard sign that read "Happy Birthday Laura!" I ran over to them and enveloped Lynn amd Conner in a tight hug. They were laughing.

"Don't get too excited, you still have to share it with all of us," Conner laughed, trying to wiggle out of my grasp. I took a step back and smiled. It was every little girls dream house.

"How, in the name of Hades, did you manage to afford this place?" Will snorted and pointed behind me. I turned around to see the two gods smiling at us and shaking their heads.

"They thought we would want some place to go that's safe, you know, since we're getting a little old for Camp," Travis explained. "We didn't tell you 'cause we weren't sure if you wanted to leave yet, plus Lynn wanted to surprise you."

"So, we're gonna live here?" Lynn nodded. I smiled and hugged her again.

"I'm taking you shopping in ten minutes, then you're telling me what the hell is going on with my dad," she muttered, so low I could not even be sure she actually said anything. I pulled back and she gave me a serious look before her smile returned and she started dancing around the deck.

I walked off the deck and over to where my father and Apollo were standing. Will and Travis followed me. The two of them had become over protective of Lynn and I over the last few months, ever since the nonsense on the fourth of July. I quickly shook hands with Apollo and nodded my thanks, I would thank him properly later. Then I turned to my dad and threw my arms around his neck.

Hermes stiffed for a moment before relaxing and wrapping his arms loosely around me.

"Thank you, father," I said quietly. He chuckled and patted my head as I pulled back. It was an old fashioned gesture but a fatherly one as well.

"You better go, your friend wants to celebrate your special day," he said after a moment. I nodded and started over toward her.

**A/N I'm still here and I'm really really sorry about the unexpected hiatus. I wound up having a wedding to go to, a summer job, and a sweet sixteen to plan so things have been hectic? I'm going to try to start writing again soon, but this is a chapter that I felt was necessary to the story.**

**Please forgive me **

**Love and kisses**


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